Ellefson's Record Performance Buoys Women's Gymnastics

By Eduardo OvalleTeam coach

This past Saturday the women's gymnastics team posted a season high
175.425 team total at Yale's Payne Whitney Gymnasium winning third place
over two stronger Division I teams (Yale 185.125 and Northeastern 178.40).
The Engineers' total was almost 6.5 points more than their previous high
this season (168.95 at Texas). This team score vaults the team back into
contention for a berth at the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association
(Division III) Nationals. Only the top three teams from the east will
qualify to the Championships in late March. Rhode Island College has
already qualified by virtue of being the host.

MIT is currently ranked fifth. Rankings are determined by taking the
average of the team's top four scores during the season. Prior to this
meet, MIT was ranked fifth nearly two points behind fourth place. Adding
Saturday's meet, MIT has moved to within 0.18 points of fourth place, and
0.78 out of third. With four competitions left in their schedule, MIT has
set themselves up to make a run for a return trip to the Nationals.

Four members of the team made major changes to their bar routines, and
that proved to be the major reason for the improvement. MIT had the
opportunity to start on bars and display their new routines right away. The
team hit for an event total of 41.9 while all six of the line-up members
posted personal best scores: Stephanie Cheng '00 received a 6.9, Liz
Ellingson '01 a 7.85, Rachel Van Buren '99 a 7.55, Nann Kronschnabel '00 a
8.45, Alli Christenson '98 a 8.85, and Sonja Ellefson '01 a 9.2. Bars set
the tone for the entire meet, as the team went on to perform some solid
vaults including Ellefson's layout tsukahara. It was the first time this
move was ever tried in competition and first one ever thrown by an MIT
gymnast. Even though the uneven bars event was extraordinary, it was not
record breaking.

During the third rotation of the meet, MIT found themselves on the floor
exercise and the team outdid their bar performances by breaking records.
The floor event total was broken with a 46.425 (the previous record was
45.775) and the individual record of 9.5 held by MIT's most decorated
gymnast, Sheila Rocchio '97, was tied by freshman standout Ellefson. The
floor also saw great performances by Ellingson and Van Buren, both posting
a 9.375, a personal best for both of them.

The meet was full of wonderful performances and strong, solid routines.
In the end it was freshman Ellingson who was named "gymnast of the meet" by
coach Eduardo Ovalle. Liz posted personal bests in four out of five events
(bars 7.85, beam 8.85, floor 9.375), including a 34.175 in the all-around
which was almost three point higher than her previous high this year. The
home season competitions come to an end with this Wednesday's tri-meet
against Vermont and Northeastern. With a couple of strong performances, the
women gymnasts could be heading to the National Championships one more
time.